However, Kevin McSpadden, founder of customer data analysts More2, said these changes were of little use to his company, which is having to turn away client work because he cannot hire the right people.

More2, which crunches customer data for the likes of House of Fraser and NotontheHighstreet.com to identify which customers are most likely to respond to marketing, said it had been allocated three additional certificates of sponsorship.

This allowed the company to hire up to three new members of staff from non-EU countries. However, the number was reduced to one permit in June when the coalition Government announced the cap on immigration in July.

Mr McSpadden, 39, said: “We are a business that’s growing quite quickly. We do data management but it’s not an easily transferable skill set. We have six recruitment agencies looking for people and have looked at 80 CVs. It’s totally slowing us down and giving me a backlog of business to the point where people are not willing to talk to you because you can’t take on work for four months. It’s definitely damaging my business.”

More2 only became aware of the problem when it found one person suitable for a role as an analyst who was from outside the EU. If it cannot hire analysts the company cannot employ people for supporting roles, positions that are more likely to be filled by UK candidates.

“If we cannot hire an analyst it means we can’t take on more clients,” said Mr McSpadden. “We have four analysts and there’s probably five other people attached to one analyst.”

The company has eight non-EU staff on its books out of a workforce of 48. Mr McSpadden said: “It’s not a deliberate policy to go out and find non-EU staff as it’s a pain to jump through the hoops. But we just need the best people.”

He added: “Everything I hear is the private sector is going to lead the growth. I am all up for that. The faster I can grow the faster I can help my clients grow, but I don’t need more things put in the way of that.”

Mr McSpadden said the Border Agency’s decision last week was a step in the right direction. “But it doesn’t feel great. It’s a poor man’s choice – at least we are not losing people,” he said. “Here we are as a business doing well, growing, helping clients to grow, and this is getting in the way. I think it’s fairly ill thought out.”

Businesses that require additional certificates can apply to the UKBA for more under the “exceptional consideration” process. However, the agency warns: “A limited number of [certificates] are available for exceptional cases and it is likely that most requests will be unsuccessful.”

Last week, the Prime Minister clarified in the Commons that “intra-company transfers” also fell outside the cap.

On Thursday he also launched a new Entrepreneur Visa, which will require non-EU entrepreneurs to meet less stringent financing criteria than the existing entrepreneur visa programme. The Home Office revealed that only 120 entrepreneurs had secured such a visa last year.